Photo Stroll – A Night Out in The Black Country with Brian Griffin

From the press release: “Brian Griffin was born in Birmingham in 1948 but spent his childhood in Lye, in the Black Country before departing for Manchester College of Art in 1969 to study photography. He has since gone on to become one of the UK’s most established photographers and is renowned for his portraits of musicians, actors, political figures and the business community. However, growing up in the 50s and 60s in the Black Country, surrounded by industry, has left an indelible impression on the artist, to such an extent, that a new body of work recalls his childhood memories of living amongst the factories on Stocking Street, Lye.

“Inspired by a range of artistic influences including Caravaggio, Sir Stanley Spencer, Otto Dix and religious art, Griffin’s theatrical compositions place his life story on centre stage.

“The Black Country was first exhibited at Collège des Bernardins, Paris. The exhibition has been supported by the Owen Family Trust, Walsall Museums and Galleries Development Trust, Multistory and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.”

Today’s post which is also up at the New York Photo Festival 2011 site comes a little later than anticipated as someone cut through my broadband cable and I was disconnected from cyberland. Now back online, here’s a photo stroll from yesterday’s night out to Brian Griffin’s private view of his most personal project to date, The Black Country, which opened today at the New Art Gallery Walsall and runs until 19 June.

Landlord of The Old Swan pub Tim Newey, pictured above, provided a barrel of beer from his brewery and was among the guests at the busy opening. Here’s hoping that the show makes its way across the Atlantic so that others can enjoy Griffin’s exhibition too. For now, here’s a photo stroll taster of what to expect. And, after my last wordy post, today I’ve decided to step back and let the images speak for themselves. To see more…

I am co-founder of Tri-pod, a creative initiative supporting lens-based artists with personal projects in process, and am a regular contributor to Photofusion Photography Centre's website, as well as contributing essays to Hotshoe, a quarterly contemporary photography magazine. Previously, I was the editorial content manager and project developer of Frame and Reference, an online visual arts magazine for the South East from 2013-14.
The Roaming Eye is curated by Miranda Gavin. All views are my own.

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